Saturday, October 18, 2014

Recently I came across a post on my Facebook page that
declared that all Greek Mythology had been created out of thin air by a group
of historians who wanted to advance their careers. They claimed to have created
everything from documents to archaeological finds to the Illiad. Now deep down I
knew it wasn’t true (and so did the person who posted it) but the article seemed so matter-of-fact- …. So Real.

I
knew that the source, The Onion, was
a satirical publication, but wondered, what about those who don’t know this?
Time after time we see posts on Facebook that are simply untrue, yet people
post them believing they are. Why? Because they do not search out
the truth- instead they blindly post what they see, accepting it for the truth because it is in
print. (I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen posts that poor Johnny Depp
has died.)

So are students ready as everyday civilians to face the
onslaught of fake material and scams out there? We want them to be college and
career ready, but what about being ready for everyday life? What will happen
when they open their email and they see they have ‘won the lottery in Zambia’? All
they have to do is respond and send their personal information. Or what if they
see a post on Facebook from Kroger claiming they can get a free $200 gift card
just for saying thanks and re-posting? Will they know these communications are
fake? Possibly a crafty scam to get their personal information?

Common Core Standards W7-9 direct students to perform short
research projects, gather relevant information from digital sources and draw evidence from informational texts for analysis and research; and CCS RI 10 directs teachers to provide a variety of
informational texts. The aforementioned
types of communications are perfect for both.
Below, I have chosen just a few informational 'documents' that can be used to provide students an
opportunity to research and do some critical thinking to find out if they are
fact or faked.

The essential question:
How do we know if the document/source is true or real?

What aspects of the article make it seem true and what
aspects seem untrue, if any?

Research the origins of Greek Culture and the Illiad

Can you find anything
dated before 1971? (Why is that date important? – students should note that the
article states that the culture was manufactured at that time- so anything
dating before that would put that statement into question)

Research the purpose of The Onion –( scrolling to the bottom of the home page- FAQ- “Editorial” section reveals the site is satirical).

What is a satire? What does this reveal about the content of
the article?

Students might also just search for what The Onion publication is in a Google
Search.

Fake Kroger Facebook Post:

Questions for Students:

How do we know if this offer is true or not?

Look at the information provided from the post and the website-
are there any aspects of it that seem legitimate and any that do not?

How many people have shared this post? Does that make it
real/true?

What can we search in order to find out if the post is true?

The Email:

(This below, like so
many similar emails, arrived in my spam folder the other day)

Subject Line of Email: From: Mr.Kenneth Egodi,(Funds Operational Head
Director)

I am
Mr.Keneth Egodi,Funds Operational Head Director,I monitor offices and control
the affairs of all banks and financialinstitutions in Nigerian unders the auspices of
the NDIC. I am the final signatory to all foreign transfers of huge fundsmoving within banks both the
local and international levels in line to foreign contracts settlement.I have
before me the list of foreign contract payment files, which are due to be
transferred to their nominated accounts.Meanwhile, we identified some of these accounts to be ghost accounts,
unclaimed deposits and over invoiced sum etc. I wishto have a deal with you as regards to the unpaid fund.

I have a
file before me and hope the data's are correct and un-tampered. As it is my duty to recommend the transfer
of these surplus fund to the Federal Government Treasury andReserve Accounts as unclaimed deposit. I have the
opportunity to write you based on the instruction I received two days agofrom the senate committee on contract
payment/foreign debts to submit the list of payment reports, expenditures and
auditedreports of revenues. Among several others, I have
decided to remit the total sum of USD 5.525m following the idea that wehave a deal/agreement and I am going to perfact the paperwork legally.

MY
CONDITIONS

1.You
will have to provide foreign account where the funds will be transferred
believing that I can trust you.2.This
deal must be kept secret forever, and all correspondence will be strictly by
private email /telephone for securitypurposes.

If you
AGREE with my Conditions, contact me directly through this email address;(kenethegodi321@gmail.com)
l will adviseyou on the next line
of action and immediately the funds transfer will commence without further
delay as I would proceed tofix
your name on the payment schedule instantly within the next 5 working days.

Thanks,Mr.Keneth
Egodi,Funds
Operational Head Director, NDIC.

Questions for Students:

How do we know if this is true or not?

What aspects of the email seem true and what aspects do not?
(It might be important to point out
spelling and grammar as a possible signifier that the email is not truly
authentic. While you can’t rely on that alone- it is often the case that these
types of emails have spelling and grammar issues and that a professional would
be careful to eliminate such errors).

Are there any aspects of the information in the heading that
seems official and/or legitimate? (Both before and after searching heading
information)

What information in this email is potentially alarming?
(Providing account info, keeping it a secret, etc.)

What can we research to find out if this email is authentic?
(Most importantly the contact
information in the heading of the email would be important to search)

Is there a reason this email went to the Spam/Junk mail
folder? Does it automatically make it untrue because it was sent there? (and
the answer is no- I have received items in my Junk folder many times that went
there erroneously).

Students might research the email address

Note: I left all
misspellings in the original email.

I purposely altered the spelling of the email address and
sender’s name

The next time you see that fake email or a post that is
ridiculously untrue- snag it and use it in the classroom. Students can work in
small investigative teams to research and find out if that piece of
informational text is fact or faked!